China hands over donated vaccines to Palestine; Iraq reports over 5,800 new COVID-19 cases

CAIRO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday handed over a batch of donated Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to Palestine to support its nationwide fight against the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Ministry of Health reported 5,837 new coronavirus cases, raising the total nationwide infections to 838,265.

"Palestine highly appreciates China's commitment to providing coronavirus vaccines as a global public good and its selfless assistance to Palestine and other developing countries with a responsible attitude and concrete measures," Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said.

On Monday, Palestine recorded 1,786 new COVID-19 cases, 18 deaths and 1,181 recoveries in the past 24 hours. A total of 266,720 infections have been registered in Palestine so far.

In Iraq, an additional 37 new fatalities were registered on Monday, taking the death toll from the infectious virus to 14,249, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 4,500 to 750,435.

Lebanon announced on Monday 1,277 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to 462,339, while the death toll from the virus went up by 40 to 6,136, the Health Ministry said.

In Kuwait, the health ministry reported on Monday 1,251 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infections in the country to 229,550.

It also announced 12 more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,298, while the tally of recoveries rose by 1,346 to 213,942.

The Omani Health Ministry on Monday announced 796 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the sultanate to 156,883.

A total of 524 people recovered during the past 24 hours, taking the overall recoveries to 142,944, while one death was reported, pushing the tally up to 1,662, according to a ministry statement.

The Qatari Health ministry on Monday announced 690 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 178,464.

The overall recoveries climbed to 163,272 after 362 more recovered from the virus, while the fatalities increased by two to 286, according to a ministry statement.

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 162 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the total confirmed tally in the country to 832,068.

The death toll from the virus reached 6,196 with 13 new fatalities, while the total recoveries in Israel rose to 817,502, with 1,387 newly recovered cases.

The number of active cases in Israel decreased to 8,370, the lowest since Nov. 22, 2020.

The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Israel has reached nearly 5.23 million, or 56.2 percent of its total population, since the vaccination campaign began on Dec. 20, 2020.

In Algeria, 110 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Monday, raising the total confirmed number in the North African country to 116,946.

The death toll from the virus rose to 3,084 after four new fatalities were added, said the Algerian Ministry of Health in a statement.

Meanwhile, 82 more patients recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries in the country to 91,349, the statement added.

Morocco registered 97 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the total tally in the North African country to 494,756, the health ministry said in a statement.

The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 482,585 after 233 new ones were added, while the death toll rose to 8,807 with nine new fatalities were recorded during the last 24 hours.

The Moroccan government announced on Monday that all flights to and from France and Spain will be suspended from Tuesday. The country has so far suspended air connections with around 40 countries to curb the spread of coronavirus and the more contagious variants.